Berlin, 30. Juli 2009 PRESS RELEASE

Thomas Demand, one of the most influential and pioneering artists of our day, will present an extensive solo show at the from September 2009. While he has had major exhibitions dedicated to his work in such cities as , New York and , the show in will be his largest presentation in to date. Entitled Nationalgalerie (National Gallery), the exhibition is not, however, a general retrospective of his work up to now, rather it is purposefully dedicated to one theme in particular – perhaps the most important in all of Demand’s richly diverse body of work: Germany. Correspondingly, the exhibition coincides with the anniversaries of two pivotal historical events in German history: the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany 60 years ago and the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. Ausstellungsort Neue Nationalgalerie Potsdamer Straße 50 The approximately 40 works on display, which include new, previously unshown 10785 Berlin pieces, deal with social and historical events since 1945 and their immediate background. However, Demand’s pictures do not merely bear reference to Pressekontakt Ausstellung Dr. Katharina von Chlebowski exceptional moments in history. Alongside momentous political and societal events Theresa Lucius and instantly recognizable scenes, the exhibition includes works which depict the T +49 30 26 39 48 80 private and incidental, but which represent equally a kaleidoscopic part of a particular F +49 30 26 39 48 811 time and society. [email protected] www.demandinberlin.org

Photography is the medium in which Thomas Demand’s works are preserved and Pressekontakt exhibited, but his working methods transcend this medium. The artist often finds his Staatliche Museen zu Berlin subjects in the mass media using them as the starting point to (re)create a particular Generaldirektion Stauffenbergstraße 41 spatial situation as paper , which are then made into a two-dimensional 10785 Berlin image with the use of a large format camera and meticulous attention to detail. In a conceptual sense, Thomas Demand is a sculptor as much as he is a photographer. Mechtild Kronenberg Specific traces of the reproduced incident are systematically erased from the three- Presse, Kommunikation, Sponsoring dimensional, life-size reconstructions; and so too are the people present in the [email protected] www.smb.museum original photographs. What remains are phantom images of ‘crime scenes’ of missing events which often appear just as familiar to us as they are impalpable. Thomas Anne Schäfer -Junker Demand's works will be accompanied by captions written for the exhibition by Botho Presse Strauß (b. 1944 in Naumburg). These texts are by no means intended to explain the [email protected] T +49 30 266 42 34 02 images, nor to limit their scope in any way, but rather to add further layers and, as a F +49 30 266 42 34 09 result of their autonomy, new readings. www.smb.museum/presse

Thomas Demand’s works draw our attention to our reception of visual media and to their influence on the structures of our memory. The exhibition Nationalgalerie gives rise to questions about whether and to what extent a society’s appearance is condensed and concentrated in individual key images as well as being retained in people’s minds and remembered through such key images. Demand’s reconstructive handling of images that carry significance or appear to carry significance, focuses on the conscious or unconscious self-portrayal of a society and its changes. There could hardly be a more fitting place for an exhibition which offers us a panorama of a nation’s history than the great glass hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie of Mies van der Eine Ausstellung der Rohe. The building is not only an incunabulum of post-war architecture, but also Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. equally historically significant as a symbol of the way the Federal Republic of Ermöglicht durch den Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie. Germany viewed itself at the former inner-city border. The magnificent exhibition design by the London-based architects Caruso St John, forms an ideal connection between Demand’s works and the light hall of Mies van der Rohe.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a program of weekly talks titled How German is it? Artists, politicians, scholars, film makers, writers, entrepreneurs and economists from Germany and abroad will discuss select aspects of our culture, society and history by focusing on particular works on view as points of departure. How German is it? reaches beyond an analysis of Thomas Demand’s oeuvre and aims to initiate the debate of possible mandates and forms of use of a ‘Nationalgalerie’, while pursuing the emphasis on the museum as setting for the discourse.

The exhibition has been made possible by the Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie and sponsored by E.ON. The project has received additional support from Kvadrat, Denmark. We thank the Kulturstiftung des Bundes for supporting How German is it?

In conjunction with the exhibition a book will be published by SteidlMACK, London, ca. 40 color plates, 260 pages, approx. 35 Euro. Ausstellungsort Neue Nationalgalerie Potsdamer Straße 50 10785 Berlin

Pressekontakt Ausstellung Dr. Katharina von Chlebowski Theresa Lucius T +49 30 26 39 48 80 F +49 30 26 39 48 811 [email protected] www.demandinberlin.org

Pressekontakt Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Generaldirektion Stauffenbergstraße 41 10785 Berlin

Mechtild Kronenberg Presse, Kommunikation, Sponsoring [email protected] www.smb.museum

Anne Schäfer -Junker Presse [email protected] T +49 30 266 42 34 02 F +49 30 266 42 34 09 www.smb.museum/presse

Eine Ausstellung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Ermöglicht durch den Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie.